Home Office to appeal against High Court ruling on asylum hotel

The government is looking to appeal against the High Court’s refusal to allow it to intervene in the case of an asylum hotel in Essex.

It comes after Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction to remove asylum seekers staying at the Bell hotel in Epping.

The BBC reported the court refused a last-minute effort from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to get the council’s case dismissed.

According to the news organisation, a senior Home Office source had also said the ruling was a matter of “democracy” and that the judiciary should not be able to tell the government where it can and can’t place asylum seekers.

Numerous outlets have also reported the lawyers of Somani Hotels, the owner of the Bell Hotel, are planning to appeal against the court order blocking the use of the hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, Dan Jarvis, minister of state for security of the United Kingdom, also told ITV News: “This government will close all asylum hotels and we will clear up the mess that we inherited from the previous government. We’ve made a commitment that we will close all the asylum hotels by the end of this parliament but we need to do that in a managed and ordered way and that’s why we will appeal this decision.”

People have been protesting outside the Epping hotel in recent weeks after it was reported an asylum seeker living at the property was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the town.

Mr Justice Eyre granted the application of the council against Somani Hotels at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The Times reported that at least 27 protests are in the works this weekend in light of the recent ruling.

There have also been multiple reports suggesting Labour, Conservative and Reform UK councils across the country are investigating whether they can launch further legal challenges against asylum hotels following the precedent set by the Conservatives’ Epping Forest District Council.

Earlier this week, Reform UK councillor Mark Arnull, leader of West Northamptonshire Council, said: “We have always been clear with the government and the public that the current use of three hotels in West Northamptonshire have never been suitable locations for asylum accommodation and place an unreasonable and unsustainable strain on our already-stretched local services.

“We are currently considering the implications of this judgment to understand any similarities and differences and are actively looking at the options now available to us.”

The Caterer has contacted the Home Office and Somani Hotels’ lawyers for comment.